If you are like me, you've heard the term "Power Couple." Typically this term is reserved for couples who individually and jointly, have amassed impressive sums of money, property, status, and....well...."power."
This idea of power is of course, subjective. Corporate power is different from intellectual power, which differs as well from political power. There are different types of power to be sure. Equally important however, is the idea that various classes of people understand and express power differently. That is to say that a multinational corporation understands and manifests power in peculiar ways that are distinctly different from those of a police department, farmer's cooperative, tenant union or university. Simply put, "Power is not one thing." This level of nuance is important because terms, and societal issues are usually more layered and complicated than we acknowledge them to be. And if we don't adequately understand the nature of a thing, we are challenged in our ability to provide an accurate diagnosis or effective prescription.
The issue of holding and wielding power will always create awkward discussions for a colonized people intimately dependent on their colonizers for survival. We spend currency they print, bearing the images of their heroes; We put the gasoline they control/own in the cars we drive which they made; We purchase, use and depend on their technology or innovations; We speak their language, attend their schools, frequent their businesses and call their law enforcement or emergency services when in danger.
These circumstances - given our colonized status - should not be surprising nor should they be used by white (or Black) pundits as proof of our alleged lack of pride, work ethic or agency. This amounts to no less than an unempathetic victim-blaming analysis. Suggesting this is similar to arguing, "Jews in WWII concentration camps didn't have the courage or pride to create their own economy or become self-sufficient." The sensible response is: "Of course not! They existed within an oppressive militarized system that dehumanized them, deprived them of life-sustaining resources, and literally killed them!"
Oppressed people - by virtue of being oppressed - will often appear apathetic, compliant or unwilling to fight for their liberation. Lacking the military or economic might , oppressed people often use unconventional methods of resistance. As a case-in-point, relatively few enslaved Africans escaped from plantations, created Maroon societies or participated in bloody revolts. The vast majority of our enslaved ancestors engaged in less conspicuous forms of resistance, like breaking tools, work slowdowns , use of contraceptives, faked sickness, misinforming slave owners, spying, etc. Using these frames of reference, we can understand how 21st Century New Afrikans, like our ancestors, not only resist our oppression in varied ways, but also manage to develop and exercise power unconventionally (rejecting European values, creating alternative institutions and holidays, educating ourselves for liberation, create military formations to defend ourselves, creating cooperatively owned businesses). These expressions of power may manifest themselves outside of white capitalist definitions and parameters, but they are manifestations of Black Power nevertheless.
These revelations bring us full circle to our original conversation about "Power Couples." In the African-Centered tradition, individuals are rooted in and inextricably connected to the family and extended family (community). This leaves us with a radically different understanding of a Power Couple. As the above graphic notes, "A Power Couple is not defined by the money knowledge or power they accumulate for themselves, but by their willingness and ability to empower their community." This definition of the term instantly makes it accessible to the masses of our people, regardless of their income level material assets, or family pedigree. Accordingly, the couples depicted in the photograph represent this repurposed definition of a power couple, as they are all educators, activists or community organizers who love and serve their people. Something to think about, and emulate.....
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